Marlena Wesh, still in her business casual work clothes, sat on a bench outside of the new Cheesecake Factory building, which was already overflowing with people.
Even in the hot afternoon sun, Wesh, 28, said she was still happy to have a Cheesecake Factory closer to home.
“I actually travel to Orlando once or twice every other month to go get Bang-Bang Chicken and Shrimp,” Wesh said.
The highly-anticipated Cheesecake Factory opened Tuesday at 11 a.m. to 75 customers waiting in the parking lot of the restaurant. Located in Butler Plaza, this is the chain’s first Gainesville location.
Steve Jovanovic, the store’s general manager, said he arrived at the restaurant at 7 a.m. to prepare for the hectic day to come. Despite the large crowds and busy employees, Jovanovic describes the restaurant as “controlled chaos,” which he attributes to the 300 new staff members and 65 trainers from around the country. They served 1,232 people by 6 p.m. that evening.
One man was waiting in the parking lot since 5:30 a.m. that morning, Jovanovic said.
Jovanovic also enjoys the food at Cheesecake Factory.
“My favorites are white chocolate raspberry truffle which is one of our oldest and still delicious and banana cream,” Jovanovic said.
The restaurant made $23,000 for lunch and expected to make $30,000 more for dinner, he said.
Brad and Libby Surresey drove from Bell, a town in Gilchrist County, Florida, where they both work at Bell High School.
When the couple heard there was a Cheesecake Factory opening 30 minutes away from their Gainesville home, Surresey canceled cross-country practice for his students to take his wife to the restaurant.
“I always love it,” Surresey said. “Its my favorite restaurant so I was ecstatic when they said they were coming to Gainesville.”
Contact Priya Dames at pdames@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @priya_dames.
Jordan Kovacs, a 21-year-old UF health science student eats dinner with Sophie Franklin, a 21-year-old UF biology student, at the Cheesecake Factory grand opening Tuesday night. About 150 people came to the opening, some waiting in line for up to two and a half hours to be seated. “I’ve been going back to the one at home for 10 years,” Kovacs said about the restaurant chain. “Of course I’m here for the opening night.”
